Jon Cassella bookends Pigskin Pick' Em Challenge with Super Bowl win
Head coaches say it's always nice to win your first game of the season, but it's more important to win the last.
That's exactly what reader Jon Cassella did, bookending victories in the 2025-26 Daniel Island News Pigskin Pick 'Em challenge.
Cassella won Week 1 of the challenge last August, and 23 weeks later, won the final week of the contest, besting the field on Super Bowl Sunday with a 9-3 record and winning the tiebreaker against all contestants, including VIP sponsor Tyler Letson of Mount Pleasant Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, who went 8-4.
"I won the first week of this season and waited a long time for my next win, which happened to come in the final week of the year," said Casella via email. "To say this season has brought me full circle is an understatement. Reflecting back, this win is by far the biggest of my Pigskin Pick'em career, as it was the Super Bowl. (It can't get bigger)."
With the Week 24 victory, Cassella said he is now on a sky-high.
"I want to thank the other Pick'em competitors that have pushed me week after week," he said. "Without all of their participation, I wouldn't be standing at the highest of peaks right now. The view from up here is beautiful! Thank you to the newspaper and to all of the sponsors for making this contest a lot of fun!"
BRAGGING RIGHTS FOR BUCHHOLZ
Casella isn't the contest's only big winner: Chris Buchholz, owner of Par Paradise, held onto his first-place standing, fighting off the seven other VIP contestants in the season's final game to earn bragging rights as The Daniel Island News 2025-26 Pigskin Pick 'Em VIP Sponsor Challenge champion!
Buchholz put a stamp on the season finale, keeping his No. 1 status as he led for most of the season, albeit with a very slim week-to-week lead. In fact, almost every VIP sponsor had a shot at winning the crown on the season's final game.
"I'm a very competitive person, and I loved the fact it was so close and came down to the Super Bowl to decide it!" Buchholz said. "Kudos to everyone involved for making it go down to the wire! I was nervous when I lost the coin toss out of the gate."
As the new DI News Pigskin Pick 'Em champion, Buchholz will direct a $500 donation from The Daniel Island News to his favorite charity.
Stay tuned next week as we learn Buchholz's charity of choice.
THANK YOU!
A hearty thank you to all the VIP sponsors for their generous gift card donations to each weekly winner and for their valuable time participating in this year's VIP Pick 'Em challenge. And a final thank you to all the Daniel Island News readers and contestants for joining in on another great Pick Em season. We hope you enjoyed it, and we can't wait to see you this fall!
VIP SPONSORS FINAL RECORDS
Champion: Chris Buchholz
Par Paradise
6-6
185-97
Chris Mingledorff and Michael Patterson
Attorneys
7-5
181-101
Edie Coupe
Carolina One Real Estate
3-9
180-102
Brannon Florie
Coach's Canteen
2-10
180-102
Jimmy Foti
Foti Law Firm
6-6
179-103
Gabe Jolly
Carolina One Real Estate
5-7
177-105
Garret McNally
Mac's Daniel Island
5-7
176-106
Tyler Letson
Mt. Pleasant Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
8-4
169-113